Myrtle Beach

We got a 3 day weekend and I just had to get out of town! There are a number of places I'd like to go visit around the area. We decided to go to Myrtle Beach while it was still warm outside. (The fall weather here has been practically summer-i. LOVE. it!) The drive seem to take forever, it made me sad not to be staying the night (we decided we didn't want to spend money on a hotel.) It was SOOOO nice to be at the beach! Nostalgic memories of kids playing in sand, listening to the ocean for hours. I love warm beaches! Nothing especially interesting to tell, and these aren't even the cute pictures, lol! But I got tired of waiting for blogger to load the pictures. So, this post will be short and sweet. Can't wait to go back next summer! (Assuming we get put at Fort Bragg...!)

Swampfest!

Ewh, swampfest!? Doesn't that just sound too cool to miss?! That's what I thought at least. And I wasn't disappointed! I've been wanting to visit Conagree National Park for alittle while, and since we started our Earth unit in preschool, I had it at the top of my list of fun things. Then, I found out there was the 8th annual Swampfest going on this weekend- perfect!
The kid-paced walk along the bayou boardwalk was enhanced by face painting from a naturalist group, fur skin display, bracelet making with the Cherokee Chief, and a visit with Kessie a slave-reenactor and black history educator. We ended up spending I think almost 3 hours at the park!
Then, there were special events goin on down the road too! We enjoyed the hayride fromthe park to Swampfest where there were vendors, music and entertainment, and some carnival rides for the kids. They had the coolest balloon artists making probably the best balloon creations I've ever seen. That was Willie's highlight. Lucy got to ride all the rides (it pays to be 3 inches taller). Another couple hours passed and we were almost late getting home for the second session of General conference.